Recruitment & Hiring

Review the university's recommended processes for recruitment and hiring below. Use the resources on this page to help get a robust applicant pool and complete the selection and hiring process in compliance with the law and university policy.

1. Review Position

Is the classification appropriate or should the position be reclassified?

2. Hiring Freeze Exemption

An exemption to the university's hiring freeze must be requested for most positions being filled. See the guidelines in the documents below to determine if you need a freeze form for your position action. Once you submit the form, it can take 1-2 weeks to complete the process.

Online Form for Norman Programs: As of July 1, 2017, Norman departments should use the electronic freeze form to submit a hiring freeze exemption request. Paper forms will be accepted until January 2018, but the electronic version is preferred. Note: For the best experience, use Chrome. The electronic form is not compatible with mobile devices. On-demand help articles are available at askhr.ou.edu.

3. Prepare Position Description

Each staff job listing begins with the Position Description Questionnaire (PDQ). The PDQ is not required for temporary, student, academic, or graduate assistant positions.

With the information from Step 1, review the position description questionnaire (PDQ) for the job you wish to fill. The PDQ should include all the essential functions of the job.

An essential function must meet at least one of the following criteria:

The position exists to perform this duty. Removing this function would fundamentally change this position.

A limited number of employees are available to do the function.

The person in the position must have specific expertise to perform the function.

Complete the PDQ if this is a new position, request for reclassification of a vacant position, or a position description update. You will receive email notification when approved.

4. Job Requisition

Once the position description has been approved, complete the job requisition in the Taleo Jobs System. The job requisition provides the information for the public job listing. Complete the necessary departmental forms and approvals for posting the job in this step. You can save an incomplete job requisition and come back to it later, if needed.

5. Job Listing

Submit the job requisition through Taleo. HR Employment & Compensation will review the requisition and notify you when your job listing has been posted on the OU Jobs website.

Besides posting your vacancy on the OU Jobs website through Taleo, you should also consider other methods of advertising for your job in this step. HR can assist you with this.

Choose a candidate for the position. When you decide on your final candidate, create and send the offer in Taleo. The system will email the candidate, asking them to accept or reject the offer.

Finalize selection in Taleo. If your candidate accepts, capture their response in Taleo. Once your candidate's response is captured, Human Resources will send them the Second Pass via email to confirm their personal information and get consent for the background check process. Your part in the hiring process is finished, though if the candidate does not respond to the Second Pass email, you may need to contact them to remind them to do so.

7. Background Check

Who Needs a Background Check?

Background checks are required for all final candidates for university employment, including faculty, staff, and temporary positions in Norman programs and for all positions in HSC programs. For new hires, a conditional offer of employment is based on the candidate's successful completion of the background check. For student employees, review the Background Check policy to determine if their role requires a background check. Human Resources processes the background checks for all university departments.

How Do I Initiate a Background Check?

If the candidate is being hired through Taleo, the hiring manager must complete the offer in the Taleo system to initiate the background check process. After the candidate has accepted an offer in Taleo, HR will send them a link to the jobs site where they will verify their personal information in a process called the 2nd Pass.

If the requisition requires a background check, the candidate can agree to the background check and provide their personal information online. Once we have their information, we will conduct the background check and advise the hiring department of the results when we have them. The candidate's response time will affect the timing of the results.

Background checks may also be required for volunteers and current employees. See the Background Checks page for more details.

8. Submit ePAF

Complete the appointment of your new employee by submitting the electronic Personnel Action Form (ePAF) in PeopleSoft.